Services such as checking cleanliness of restaurants, pest control and other environmental health services will “no longer be viable” due to the extent of huge cuts to council budgets, the Welsh Local Government Association head has claimed.

WLGA chief executive Steve Thomas warned Assembly Members on the Public Accounts Committee that the future financial situation for Welsh councils by 2018 was “pretty appalling” and said cuts on the scale of what has happened in England would put thousands of public sector jobs in Wales at risk – warning the escalation of cut projects means “many of the tough decisions are yet to come”, including compulsory job losses.

Mr Thomas claimed the government-backed Williams Commission proposals to halve the 22 authorities in Wales was “a sideshow” given the dire financial backdrop and said the WLGA was consulting with the public on how best to spend dwindling budgets.

He said “smaller services” such as environmental health and leisure services had borne the brunt of cuts and said the extent of cuts to some departments contributing to the £35m country-wide spend on environmental health – which includes food inspections, pest control and restaurant cleanliness operations – had seen 20% cuts annually.

Mr Thomas said: “Last year, I think there was something like three environmental health departments out of 22 had 20% cuts.

“What happens this year if they have another 20% cut? What happens the following year if there have another 20% cut?

WLGA head Steve Thomas has warned environmental health services could no longer be viable due to huge budget cuts

“Some of those smaller services will no longer be viable. You cannot continuously improve a service that you’ve cut by 40%. It’s just a logical fallacy. We need to think very carefully about the future of some of these smaller services.”

Mr Thomas said there had been too little discussion between council heads and Welsh Government on the finances and suggested local government needed a Nuffield Trust-style report into future financial pressures.

But he hit out at the Williams Commission process which he suggested had stalled collaborations by councils across Wales, because authorities didn’t want to work with the “wrong” authorities they wouldn’t be slated to merge with.

“Constantly when we went through the collaboration agenda, the Sword of Damocles was hanging over the collaboration agenda – namely that there was always the threat of reorganisation in the background,” he said.

“The lessons to draw from that, is that if we were serious about the collaboration agenda. We should have been in a position where that threat should have been removed.

“If people think we’re going to have local government reorganisation, the fact then don’t come to together and collaborate is not surprising. What if you are collaborating with the wrong authority?

“We’ve seeing the breakdown, for example, of a big regulatory services project between Cardiff, the Vale and Bridgend...because Bridgend aren’t, by any criteria of local government reorganisation, going to be attached to Cardiff and the Vale.”

A Welsh Government spokeswoman said: “The Local Government Minister wrote to Local Authorities last week regarding the reality of financial challenges which lie ahead for all public services in Wales and their planning for next year’s settlement.

“While no one should doubt the high value Welsh Ministers place on public services, the current financial climate means effective forward planning will be crucial in ensuring citizens can continue to receive these services.

"Local Authorities need to plan for challenging financial scenarios which are likely to persist for several years.

“The WLGA has acknowledged local government in Wales has been protected from the worst of the public spending cuts, which is in contrast to the deep cuts faced in England for the past four years.”